The Clearing
by tori8
Summary: IYK [one-shot] Deals with the aftermath of an encounter with both Naraku and Kikyou. Inuyasha and Kagome have a conversation.


Hello Everyone. This is my first Inuyasha fanfic, so I'd appreciate any and all feedback. For now this is just a one shot that takes place shortly before Sango arrives, and deals with the aftermath of an encounter with Naraku and Kikyou. R&R even if you don't like it to tell me why! tori  
  
Kagome sighed, as she washed her clothes in the river. But scrub as she may she just couldn't get that nasty grass stain out. 'I guess it serves me right for wearing a white shirt in the feudal era.' She thought glumly to herself.  
  
After taking the fall down that hill to where Kikyou had lain sleeping, and then watching helplessly as Kikyou almost succeeded in dragging Inuyasha to hell with her, Kagome was feeling mentally and physically exhausted.  
  
Kaede had examined her, and she wasn't that badly injured, besides numerous bruises, the only injury she sustained was a pulled muscle in her shoulder. 'I guess I should count myself lucky.' She sighed again when she realized that the stain in her shirt just wasn't going to come out. 'I'll have to get another uniform shirt. What's that, like the fifth one already?' But wearing the uniform helped her to keep her grip on reality and remember where she came from.  
  
She picked up all her things, being extra careful to make sure that the soap washed downstream, and didn't gather at the banks. All the soap she used in the past was biodegradable, as to not contaminate the environment.  
  
She wasn't ready to face Inuyasha yet, so she walked in the opposite direction of the village. When she came to the clearing, she gasped and recoiled with horror. The destruction was so immense. She hadn't realized how bad Naraku's cloud of destruction was at the time, because she was so busy worrying whether Inuyasha was alright, and keeping herself, Miroku, and Shippo ahead of the cloud.  
  
Now that she had a moment to really look at it, she could appreciate the damage. The area had a diametre of what she guessed was at least ten kilometres, but it could be more. Nothing had survived. Not one blade of grass, not one patch of moss. She could tell that nothing would grow here for many decades.  
  
She stood at the edge of the clearing, not able to step in, but unwilling to turn away. The aura surrounding the destruction was emanating evil in waves, and it was enough to drive her to her knees. If she hadn't already feel compelled to finish the quest because of her role in destroying the Shikon no Tama, this sight alone would have made her stay. Someone that could produce something so terrible did not deserve the right to live. She would make sure she stuck it out until Naraku's destruction.  
  
As confused as she was by Inuyasha's actions, she knew he worried about her, and that was the whole reason that he tried to send her back to her own time. But how could she ever go back to a life where her biggest worry was what to wear on her next date with Houjou? Not that she really felt comfortable on a date with Houjou mind you, she felt much more at home arguing with Inuyasha...  
  
Oh boy. What exactly was her life coming to?  
  
She couldn't help it. Tears came to her eyes, even as she willed them not to. It was just too much; Kikyou, Naraku, Inuyasha, Houjou, all this destruction, and those poor girls that lost their souls. She was only a fifteen year old girl for crying out loud! What could she possibly do to make any of this better?  
  
"Kagome?" She wiped her eyes, as she heard Inuyasha call out her name. "Are you alright?"  
  
She looked at him and tried to smile. "Yes."  
  
She could tell he didn't believe her, but he didn't push. "What are you wearing?" He asked instead.  
  
She looked down at the simple kimono that one of the village ladies had given her to wear for the moment; she definitely wasn't going to borrow priestess robes from Kaede, not after the encounter with Kikyou the day before. "Oh, my clothes got really dirty, so I borrowed some clothes from one of the village women."  
  
He gave her a piercing stare, and she wondered what it was he was trying to tell her. Whatever it was, he didn't press it. "What are you doing out here?" He asked.  
  
"What's with the interrogation?" She asked.  
  
"Keh. As if I care." He turned his back, and started to walk away.  
  
"No, wait." She grabbed his arm, and he turned back to face her. "I'm sorry, I'm just feeling a little..." Raw. Vulnerable. Alone. Scared. "Uncertain right now. I didn't mean to snap at you."  
  
"Keh."  
  
She leaned into him a little. "Can you believe this?" She asked gesturing to the clearing. "I can't believe that you were inside of that..." She fell silent.  
  
"I'm not some weak human y'know!"  
  
"Oh, Inuyasha." She turned towards the village. "That's not what I meant at all."  
  
She didn't see the look that crossed over Inuyasha's face. She wouldn't have known what to make of it if she had.  
  
"What's wrong with your shoulder?" He asked by way of apology.  
  
She stopped rolling it, and looked at him sheepishly. "Nothing," she told him. "I hurt it the other day, when I fell down." She hadn't told him what happened before he had shown up at the scene with Kikyou.  
  
He put his hand on her, and pressed his thumb on the very spot where the muscle was sore.  
  
"Aa-ahhh" She sighed. His hands felt so good, on her sore abused muscles.  
  
"What are you going to do the next time I'm not there to protect you? You can barely go five minutes without finding trouble!" He berated her.  
  
She was about to reply hotly, but the look in his eyes stopped her. She took his hand in her own. "It's not your sole responsibility to look after me, Inuyasha. You can't blame yourself every time someone gets hurt." Or killed. 'Kikyou's death wasn't your fault' She wanted to tell him. But she couldn't. She was too afraid.  
  
"If I had only been there..." She wasn't sure if he was talking about herself anymore.  
  
"My brave Inuyasha, wants to take on the whole world." She smiled at him, as he turned a shade of pink. "I worry about you." She told him.  
  
He gawked at her. "You. Worry about me? Why would you do a thing like that?"  
  
She gave him a small smile, and then kissed his cheek. "How could I not?" She asked as she watched him turn pinker. "Someone needs too, and as you've already covered worrying about everything else..." She teased.  
  
"Oi! I do not worry, wench!" She could tell he was flustered.  
  
She just smiled, and pulled him in the direction of the village. They needed to get back, before the others started worrying, but couldn't help looking back at the ominous clearing. As she did, she missed the look Inuyasha gave their two intertwined hands.  
  
There had been enough moping for one day. 


End file.
